Berlin, Sep 21 (IANS) Dortmund cruised 3-0 past Leverkusen to seal the fifth win in as many games while Schalke edged struggling Stuttgart 1-0 at the closer of the fifth round in the German Bundesliga on Sunday.
Borussia Dortmund maintain their perfect 5-0 record, by inflicting Leverkusen the third straight loss in Bundesliga, to recapture the first place from Bayern Munich in the standings. It is the 11th victory in row into the season for the “BVB”, reports Xinhua news agency.
Thomas Tuchel’s men controlled the proceedings for most of the time and Jonas Hofmann broke the deadlock following a moment of madness by Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno with 19 minutes into the game.
Leverkusen remained unfazed and tried to pull back but Javier Hernandez failed to make use of a promising chance moments later. The “Werkself” took over before the break but they remained sloppy at the finish.
Dortmund piled on the pressure after the restart and doubled the lead through Shinji Kagawa, who made use of a blackout by Wendell to tap home from very close range at the 58th minute.
Things changed from bad to worse for the visitors from Leverkusen, as Wendell brought down Matthias Ginter inside the box, allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to seal the win and his sixth goal of the season.
With the result, Dortmund regain the first place in the standings due to a better goal difference in comparison with Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Leverkusen stay on the 13th place following their third consecutive loss.
Elsewhere, Stuttgart’s crisis continues as Schalke snatched three points on the road by courtesy of Leroy Sane’s second half winner.
Despite a powerful performance with 26 goal scoring opportunities, Stuttgart were unable to score a goal. Thus, Schalke punished Stuttgart’s wastefulness as Leroy Sane made use of a long ball to shrug off one defender for the left-footed winner at the 53rd minute.
The second win in row move the “Royal Blues” to the 4th place while Stuttgart stay on the 17th place after suffering their fifth loss in as many games.
Augsburg wrapped up their first win of the season as they overcame winless Hannover 2-0 thanks to the first-half goals by Alexander Esswein and Paul Verhaegh.
With the victory, Augsburg stay on 14th position whereas Hannover, who are without a win so far, sit on the 16th place.
